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My first introduction to Ron Hollander was his landmark 1981 book, All Aboard, the history of Joshua L. Cowen and his Lionel train company. Even a casual reading of this book revealed his personal passion and love of Lionel trains, starting, as with many of us, at a young age. His unique personal prose style drew me into the narrative in a way that other train historians previously did not. Along with the astute research, he blended in his own fascination with his subject that made the material more heartfelt and personal that the reader could easily relate to. The second edition hardback sits in a prominent place in my personal reference library. More recently, Ron has been contributing a series of delightful articles to the TCA Quarterly that follow in the same vein as his excellent All Aboard. Ron's passion for our hobby and Lionel trains always comes through in his prose, and his articles are always entertaining. Ron is truly an inspired writer who clearly presents his subject and imbues it with his own genuine enthusiasm. So, I would like to give an overdue shoutout to one of the great train hobby authors of our time, Mr. Ron Hollander!

Last edited by Tinplate Art
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I second that emotion!  I started with a Marx outfit in the early '70s because that is all our family could afford. I got into HO in the late '70s and moved on to other interests until I was in the public library in 1982 and saw "All Aboard" by Ron Hollander.  That was the beginning of the infection that has lasted ever since.  I checked that book out of the library at least 10 times before I bought the softcover version and the updated re-issue hardcover version years later.  I still try to read the thing cover to cover every couple of years.  

I was sort of "drifting" in the years before I really got into trains and honestly believe they were a HUGE part of keeping me on the straight and narrow all these years. Thanks Ron Hollander for being the catalyst for the passion I have for all things model trains!!

Great topic, Art. I heartily agree.

Ron’s influence on the re-kindled interest of baby boomers in the toy trains of their childhood was incalculable. His writing style in the 1981 book evoked memories long hidden. 

After going to a Greenberg show at Towson State University in 1980, I asked my parents to bring my trains down from the Bronx when they visited for Easter.... Ron’s JLC Lionel Train book hooked me forever....I haven’t stopped since that time.

Peter

Yes, agreed. The Hollander book is absolutely must-reading for any model train fan.

I met Ron at York a number of years ago. He was standing next to me at the same member table eyeing a close to pristine Lionel Cattle Car and Platform. Had a chance to say hello and complement him on All Aboard.

Oh, he bought that Cattle Car Set. 

Last edited by johnstrains

The latest article by Hollander in the Quarterly is all about the fantasies generated in his then-child's mind by the catalog images of the late forties and early to mid fifties. His trained journalist's prose style is clearly evident in this piece, and he once again nostalgically evokes the childhood memories of the joy of perusing those wonderful Lionel wish books! Check it out on pages 22-25  in the October issue. You will not be disappointed!  ☺

Last edited by Tinplate Art

I met Ron a few years ago after he moved to Long Island, he had gotten my name from another train guy and he needed some repairs. He has since become a friend and joined us as a member of the Railroad Museum of Long Island. Ron is a great guy and he is a pleasure to be around. If you ever get to talk to him make sure you ask him if he has a minuteman missile car on his layout, I'm sure he'll smile and mention my name.

I also have to chime in and express my love of his All Aboard! book.  It's actually become traditional reading for me when Fall starts to get colder and turn into Winter.  It's one of those books I have to read and reinforces my love of toy trains.

I was wearing out the spine on the first one I bought, and as luck would have it, I found another copy in a local thrift shop!  So I have backup now!

All Aboard! has been with me since my early teens. Living in Kansas in the 1980's there was very little Lionel around, and, obviously, no internet. I was 12 or 13 when I purchased the book, and it was the first time I saw Lionel catalog art and discovered the Lionel story. I've read and re-read the book over the years, and it still makes me happy to think about those memories. 

As posted above, it was what got me seriously into O-gauge trains, and has been with me all these years. Because of this topic, I just pulled the book out and skimmed over it again. Absolutely the best book about O-gauge, and possibly all model trains, ever written.

I never heard of Ron Hollander until I read the above post and replies, which inspired me to take a look at his article in the October, 2018 issue of the TCA Quarterly.

No question about it, Ron Hollander has a great writing style.  I thoroughly enjoyed the article, which eloquently describes the allure of the Lionel Catalogues, especially in the late 1940s and early 1950s. For Ron, those catalogues had a greater impact on him than the trains themselves. He starts the article by saying: "I want to be buried with it," referring to the Lionel Catalogue, not the actual toy train depicted therein.

I had a different experience as a child. I vaguely remember getting a couple of those Postwar Lionel Catalogues, but they did not get me dreaming as much as seeing the trains in action on a high, scenicked layout, especially on the layout in the toy department at Macy's in NYC, and on the beautiful large basement layouts that two of my first cousins (who were older than me) had. 

Ron Hollander's TCA Quarterly article is extremely well written, charming and very enjoyable. I also highly recommend it.

Arnold

Everyone, thank you, thank you!  I am so touched and moved by your kind and generous words.  Warms my writer’s heart.  Who knew when I set out in about 1978 to find out who JLC was that we’d still be talking about it 40 years later!

Yes, I do write from the heart  I’m just so happy that your own have responded so tenderly v

Best of Lionel (on fhe road to York),

ron

 

For many, "All Aboard" cemented us back into the Lionel Train Hobby as adults. I was 28 years old when I first picked up a copy and I still keep one at home and one in my desk draw at work. I met Ron at York sometime in the mid 80's and immediately related to his love for Lionel Trains. Thanks for everything Ron.

I particularly identified with Ron's desire to go back to that Brooklyn apartment to look for traces of the old layout as he describes in "All Aboard".

My trains had been given away to a now long-lost relative years before my renewed interest in Lionel O in the early 1980s. 

Wishing for some trace of the old trains, I had the idea to search my father's old toolbox which somehow had survived and had been passed on to my sister. Sure enough, hidden in a miscellaneous screw jar, was one Lionel track pin!

It is now framed and has a place of honor in my train room! 

Thank you for putting the feelings of many of us in words, Ron!

1953 018

Jim

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Last edited by Jim Policastro

I too am a Ron Hollander fan!  His recent articles in the TCA quarterly are must read, including the two parter on the Delta Lines.  The last one on the Lionel calalogs is a very special read.  For me, the calalogs were great works of art and in reality, for the vast majority of us growing up in the post war era, the catalog was about all we could afford, except pehaps  on that special birthday or Christmas, that we actualy got something in the catalog.   

Guys, yet additional thanks, especially to those responding to my posting.  Writing in part is an attempt to express one’s internal world to the external universe, and it is so rewarding to hear from so many of you that I’ve been succeeding in that. 

In the Q pipeline:  A two-parter called Ron’s Rooms on my various train and hobby rooms in my house; The Train Buy about my recent first buy from the public in years, and all that it stirred up; Say It Ain’t So, exploring Lionel’s classic 30s advertising defining what made a proper Lionel dad, and how my dad impossibly didn’t measure up!; and—this just struck me—a definitive piece in one place on my seminal, childhood, Brooklyn Layout with all the details  

If you have any thoughts, suggestions or questions, please shoot them along. Sorry I don’t know who most of you actuallly are to thank you personally. 

Waiting for the York doors to open on Thursday morning,

ron

 

Hello Friends,

I, too, own three copies of "All Aboard" and have read it more than once.  I was delighted when Ron's recent articles began appearing in the TCQ.  

Much (Too much!) of my time in the hobby has of the "armchair" variety, so I have read a great deal of what has been published about toy trains over the years. Ron's seminal book and now his articles in the TCQ are among the very best I've read in triggering the memories and invoking the feelings of my time, both distant and recent, with toy trains. 

While primarily a Gilbert American Flyer enthusiast, I like all trains, toy or otherwise, and own something from all the popular toy train scales, gauges and manufacturers.  My dad played a big part in installing these interests in me, and he got us started in the Amercan Flyer side of the hobby with his purchase of the first train sets. This was further fueled by the colorful catalogs that he sent away for and that I pour over while growing up.  Needless to say, my interests are strongly tilted toward the nostalgia element of our hobby.

Thanks, Ron, for keeping me deeply interested in my hobby today while keeping me firmly grounded in the past.

Cheers!

Alan

 

 

Tinplate Art posted:

The latest article by Hollander in the Quarterly is all about the fantasies generated in his then-child's mind by the catalog images of the late forties and early to mid fifties. His trained journalist's prose style is clearly evident in this piece, and he once again nostalgically evokes the childhood memories of the joy of perusing those wonderful Lionel wish books! Check it out on pages 22-25  in the October issue. You will not be disappointed!  ☺

Very enjoyable article. I had (still have) a love for paging through those postwar catalogs. Pure magic.

I just got a hard back copy, used library book in almost perfect condition from the link above from Putnam Division. Just click on link, to the left is box "get print book" It brings up a list of sites with this book for sale. I found it under Barnes&Noble for 1.99+4.99 shipping. Ordered 10-16 got it today. It does't look like it was ever checked out. Thought I would share this good luck. Also thanks to Peter.

Chris

Thnx, Lenny.  Love RMLI, almost as much as your missile launchers!  (BTW, I had a detailed article on the museum in last January's Q.)  Thanks to all those at York who came up and introduced themselves, and shared how much they liked "All Aboard!" or my Q articles.  This is a treat that not many writers get to enjoy, and I thank you all yet again.

Now I have to clean and repair all the treasure I got at York, let alone figure out where I'm going to put it!

Best to all,

Ron

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